Guillem Agel i Barrière

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Guillem Agel i Barrière (1753–1832) was a leading Catalan printer and publisher from Thuir, in the Roussillon region (then part of North Catalonia). Before the French Revolution, he promoted theatre to support the Church of Thuir. His efforts attracted many of the region’s most important playwrights to the city, forming what is known as the Group of Thuir.

Agel i Barrière collected and printed plays that were circulating at the time. He published the Catalan translation of Racine’s Esther (1792) and gathered Catalan translations of French plays made by the Group, such as Zaira by Voltaire, Atalia by Racine, and Polyeucte by Corneille, as well as original works by these authors. He also wrote a rhetorical treatise, Poésies ad usum Guillelmi Barrière, which is kept as a manuscript in the archives of the Department of Pyrénées-Orientales in Perpignan, France.